Feb 13, 2021
# 134: Women and Power — Redefined?
Story behind the Passage
I am thinking a lot about the future of decision making these days because I am designing a project on it. This is also why I am thinking about the role of women in decision-making processes, especially with a focus on intercultural differences and similarities. My assumption is that with the global spread of digitalization and thus international collaboration, some problems will probably solve themselves because the more diverse the decision makers are, the more old patterns will be eliminated — at least when it comes to individual behavior. This does not mean that there will automatically be more women leaders. That depends on many other things as well. And with “things,” I especially mean industries and professional fields.
If you look at the key technologies of the future, you will see things like Artificial Intelligence (AI), health care, quantum information technology, renewable energy, and biotech. One thing is for sure: If women want to lead in these industries, they need to be trained in them. I am not saying that there will not be any other promising and exciting leadership oppportunities in other fields. Still, nobody can say that we do not know what is expecting us. So, even though, I was not trained in biotech or 5G technology, I am excited about getting involved in these innovative developments. Of course, it must have felt like this for people across all generations who witnessed technological changes. But I feel that the speed of innovations is really picking up and the magnitude gets tangible on a larger scale.
Especially this historical perspective made me pick Mary Beard’s Women & Power today. I remembered that the book offers a very concise overview of the relationship between women and power across human history. But I also remembered that I was not too happy about the reading. I read it maybe two years ago or so, and I could still remember some unease when flipping through the pages today. Please, it is not the book as such and the research behind this that I am unhappy about. The book is valuable and I learned many things. What I mean is that my perspective has changed a lot — it does not fit in with the conventions of my field, I guess. But I cannot help it. I deeply believe in change through action and while I am certainly one of the most ‘critical’ people on earth, I insist on pragmatic problem solving as a more effective tool for achieving helpful outcomes than “just” talking.
My Learnings
“To put it another way, if women are not perceived to be fully within the structures of power, surely it is power that we need to redefine rather than women?” This is a remarkable sentence because it starts out with a statement that hardly anybody can deny, I suppose. The fact that women are not “perceived to be fully within the structures of power,” be it in business, politics, or elsewhere, confirms the respective numbers we all know. I also totally agree with the conclusion that one should not “redefine” women. I do not see this as a special women’s issue, though. Nobody should feel pressed to “redefine” him- or herself because of some drawbacks. And this actually takes me to the point that I simply do not share, that I do not even understand.
Why is “redefining” power a solution to anything? I mean, it might sound nice and intellectual but really, only people who write books or give talks consciously “redefine.” I guess, what Beard means is that the meaning of power might change if we see more examples of leaders who do not represent whatever classical type of power personality. I get that and it will certainly happen. But I really do not think that “redefining” is something that tells you how exactly to get there — it is an empty word. Redefining always needs to be done my SOMEONE. And this someone, at least when it comes to power, is not an author writing about a concept. This might sound funny to read this statement in the lines of someone who is writing — but I mean it. Writing about and actually redefining power are two really different things.
So, of course, at least now, I need to make a statement on how I ‘define’ power. To me, it is a resource. I am going to leave it at this basic level. It does not mean it is negative or positive, it can be either, depending on who uses it with what intention. You can be certain that I myself argued with a lot of people who thought they had to use their power to treat people in an inferior way. No doubt, I understand what Beard is talking about. Still, the redefining part is something that does not help — in reality.
Instead, if I were to finish that sentence, I would complete it like this: “…, surely it is power that we need to aspire and use effectively.” This makes so much more sense. I am aware, however, that Beard ends the sentence with a question mark. For me, that is not even necessary. Why ask a question? Does seeking power sound like “an eye for an eye” — if power is such a bad thing, why should women even want it? No, not in my view. I am not even insisting on the term — you can call it leeway, scope of action, freedom to act, whatever. All these things for me are almost synonyms. The major difference is that power also gives you decision-making authority.
I am aware that taking one sentence from a book does not do justice to any book in any way. Still, I pick whatever moves me on a particular day. So, the major reason why I happened to respond so strongly to this sentence really was because I am afraid that especially the humanities (yes, here they are again), are wasting their potential if they always get stuck in “redefining” for critique’s sake. We will always be more critical because of our perspective, that is natural and valuable, particularly in the age of AI and Big Data. We are running into ethical questions in the digital age that are really complex because we simply never had them before. We never had machines that could do what robots can do today. But it helps nobody (anymore) to always repeat and thus reiterate universal social critique. This is what bothers me. I want us — the human-minded and the tech-minded to work together and find solutions to the really big problems of the world — including discrimination. This way, we will all get more power — over our own lives and our future prosperity.
Reflection Questions
1) What was your worst experience with power?
2) In your current job/position, do you ever wish you had more power? How could you get it?
3) Do you think one can “measure” power by any universal means?
